“People are saying ‘I’m frightened for the services I’m providing and I’m frightened for my job’.”

Unison believes there should be no compulsory redundancies.

"Avoid duplication"

Mr Edkins said: “We understand that one of the reasons for mergers is to avoid duplication.

“That can be done by staff reductions but they should be phased in rather than in a kneejerk way supposedly based on austerity.”

The cost of mergers should be borne by the Welsh Government, not councils, according to Unison.

Mr Edkins said: “North Wales councils are struggling to make ends meet and can’t afford to put millions aside to pay for reorganisation.”

Mr Edkins, who said he does not want the debate to drag on into the 2016 Assembly Elections campaign, also wonders whether North Wales’s six authorities will become two called Clwyd and Gwynedd.

He said: “If so, why did we go through all that reorganisation in 1996?”

Unison said its policy was to support a reduction in the number of councils from 22 in Wales.

However, it would not say by how many that should go down to.

Mr Edkins said it was currently difficult to find people at professional senior management level with the “appropriate skill and talent” to fill even existing posts.

"Nervous"

Donna Hutton, a fellow Unison regional organiser, said members are “nervous”.

She said: “People know something is going to happen - don’t know what, don’t know where. That makes people nervous. We want decisions made as soon as possible,”

A Welsh Government spokesman said it would continue to work with local government employers and trades unions to “improve workforce planning and minimise the impact of cuts on the workforce”.

He said: “The Welsh Government is setting up the Public Services Staff Commission to “develop solutions to issues arising from reform and to provide advice on achieving consistent and fair treatment to staff.

“The current financial outlook is bleak. The Welsh Government has protected Local Government from the worst of the cuts over the past five years but the extent of UK government cuts will make this even more difficult in coming years.

“The WLGA itself forecasts shortfalls in the hundreds of millions of pounds if we do nothing.

“The case for fewer local authorities in Wales is compelling and widely accepted and continuing to provide services with the current number and through existing service models is not sustainable.”